Re: A Call to Reorganize WCAG 2.0

well put, please advise if you need support.

Regards
Harry
Ikhaya Internet Consulting
mobile : +44 794 034 3919
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience, of course, is the result 
of poor judgement.
               - Geoff Tabin


---------- Original Message -----------
From: "RUST Randal" <RRust@COVANSYS.com>
To: "WAI" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 07:56:08 -0400
Subject: A Call to Reorganize WCAG 2.0

> I just sent the following message to the Working Group. It is, in my
> opinion, what will be necessary in order for WCAG Guidelines to gain
> wider acceptance by making them more practical to understand, implement
> and test.
> 
> -------------------------------------------
> 
> Based on several heated discussions that are currently going on over 
> on the WAI-IG list, and at the suggestion of David Pawson, I propose 
> the following:
> 
>     WCAG should be divided into Guidelines, which can 
>     be measured and tested, and Suggested Best Practices, which 
>     can only be tested by a person.
> 
> The Guidelines should deal strictly with W3C Technologies, so that
> vendors can be left to ensuring the accessibility of proprietary
> technologies such as Shockwave and PDF. Vendor technologies can then 
> be addressed in the Suggested Best Practices. Other items, such as clarity
> of content, should also move out of Guidelines.
> 
> I propose this because WCAG Guidelines must be measurable and
> quantifiable. There can be no gray areas, otherwise it makes it too
> difficult to make a business case for accessibility. The measurable
> Guidelines must work entirely in concert with other W3C publications,
> such as HTML, XHTML, CSS and DOM. Moving outside of the W3C realm 
> only causes confustion, frustration and, ultimately, ignorance of 
> Accessibility Guidelines.
> 
> The average developer can easily grasp HTML validation and its 
> results, but cannot easily understand the results of a BOBBY test. Accessibility
> testing always results in ambiguous results that are confusing in 
> some aspects. All too often, the final decision on accessibility is 
> left up to human judgement -- which may or may not be accurate.
> 
> In order for WCAG to gain greater acceptance, its Guidelines must be
> quantifiable. Developers and designers must be able to validate their
> pages and get clear-cut results, just like with HTML validation.
> 
> If WCAG 2.0 is open to interpretation, then the W3C will only be adding
> to the difficulty of developing accessible Web sites, not making it
> easier.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> ----------
> Randal Rust
> Covansys Corp.
> Columbus, OH
------- End of Original Message -------

Received on Monday, 23 August 2004 12:17:56 UTC